PADRAIG HARRINGTON ONLY ONE
OFF THE LEAD IN INDONESIA
ASIAN TOUR NEWS RELEASE
Jakarta: Kalem Richardson of Australia fired a superb
eight-under-par 63 to lead by one shot over Padraig Harrington of
Ireland after the first round of the BANK BRI Indonesia Open at Jakarta today.
Richardson,
who has two top-five results in his last three events, rolled in eight
birdies, including a 20-footer on the last hole to steal the limelight
from Harrington, who is making his debut at the US$750,000 Asian Tour
event.
The
three-time Major champion produced his best score in 2014 with a 64
after birdieing his first two holes from close range at the Damai Indah
Golf – PIK Course.
Australia’s
Adam Groom battled through a leg infection to return with a 67 to tie
for third place alongside India’s Arjun Atwal, Thanyakon Khrongpha of
Thailand and Bryce Easton of South Africa.
Starting from the 10th
tee, Richardson stayed sharp on his first nine holes, as he did not
play the stretch during the practice round, and was rewarded with four
straight birdies before turning in 31.
“I
guess when you haven’t played the back nine, you concentrate more
because you don’t know where you are going. You really need to rely on
the yardage book and good advice from your caddy,” said the 26-year-old
Richardson.
He
is playing without any pressure this week after securing his full Asian
Tour card for the 2015 season after finishing tied fourth in Thailand
last week.
“I
secured my Asian Tour card last week so I’m going to try and enjoy the
week and see what happens. I got no pressure on me now so I’ll just try
and finish as high as I can on the Order of Merit. Obviously I want to
try to get a win before the season ends,” said the Australian, who is
ranked 47th on the Merit list.
Harrington
took advantage of his early morning start and birdied his opening two
holes before going on to add six more birdies which included a 15-footer
birdie on the par three seventh hole.
“I
could have picked a few spots to make more birdies. I made a nice
15-footer on the seventh hole and it is always nice to hole a nice putt
when you are already six-under for the day,” said the Irishman.
“Overall
I’m happy with the round. Obviously it is still a long way to go. It
was very nice early on and the greens are a little bit softer. When the
wind came up after nine holes, it wasn’t really a problem for me because
I had a few birdies in the bank at that stage,” smiled Harrington.
FIRST-ROUND SCORES
Par 71. Yardage 7,100
63 Kalem RICHARDSON (AUS).
64 Padraig HARRINGTON (IRL).
67 Adam GROOM (AUS), Bryce EASTON (RSA), Arjun ATWAL (IND), Thanyakon KHRONGPHA (THA).
68 Danny CHIA (MAS), Rahil GANGJEE (IND), Sam BRAZEL (AUS), S.S.P
CHOWRASIA (IND), Daniel CHOPRA (SWE), Carlos PIGEM (ESP), Blair WILSON
(AUS).
69 Fadhli Rahman SOETARSO (am, INA), Thitiphun CHUAYPRAKONG (THA),
Settee PRAKONGVECH (THA), Lionel WEBER (FRA), MO Joong-kyung (SKOR),
Scott BARR (AUS), Jarin TODD (USA), Nathan HOLMAN (AUS), Chris RODGERS
(ENG), Miguel TABUENA (PHI), Terry PILKADARIS (AUS), Mithun PERERA
(SRI), George GANDRANATA (INA), Scott HEND (AUS), Jack MUNRO (AUS).
70 Sutijet KOORATANAPISAN (THA), Chris GAUNT (AUS), WANG Jeung-hun
(KOR), Andrew DODT (AUS), Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN), LEE Sung (SKOR), LU
Wen-teh (TPE), Tirto TAMARDI (INA) (am), Boonchu RUANGKIT (THA), Poosit
SUPUPRAMAI (THA), Jazz JANEWATTANANOND (THA).
ends
Labels: ASIAN TOUR
